Week 2: Leadership in Silence
During the first few days of my internship, I noticed an oppressive silence in the office. The only sound was the occasional turning of a page and this silence lasted from the beginning to the end of the day. One of my more experienced coworkers advised me to bring headphones to escape the silence and mundane work. I soon noticed I am not alone when it comes to wearing headphones. If one where to enter my office, one would see everyone sitting at their cubicles or tables silently working on their own projects with headphones in their ears, each in their own little world. The reason why we can wear headphones is because there is little discussion needed or happening in the office. The silence speaks volumes regarding the culture and leadership of the MDAH.
Because each worker has their own project there is little group work or interaction. This creates the pervasive silence in the office and allows for Laissez Faire leadership to prevail. Laissez Faire leadership is different from transactional and transformational leadership because it is known for its lack of leadership. Because each worker has their own project, there is little group work or communication. This allows everyone to literally block themselves off from the world and continue their work at their own discretion. What communication does occur is usually the worker initiates a question to the Division Director who answers only the specific question regarding the worker’s project, while everyone else continues their routine work surrounded by their own music, audio book or other distraction. Laissez faire means “let them do” in French and the MDAH lets each worker work in their own little world in silence.
Really interesting. Are there no meetings among all your colleagues (staff meetings) where people talk about their projects, discuss if there is any overlap, talk about overall organizational goals, etc.? Are there any mechanisms for communicating among the entire organization (email, messaging programs, etc.)? So is the site’s context the reason for this type of environment and leadership – that nature of the organization and its work – or is it a result of the tone set by the leader (his/her personality or style)? Thus far, have you noticed any issues that have developed because of the nature of this environment and leadership? So it sounds like all the work is self-directed/autonomous with no collaboration.